1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a paper container having a hexahedral configuration which is formed by shaping paper into a box.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a container for containing detergent, foodstuff and the like, a hexahedral paper container is widely used. This paper container comprises a container main body for containing a content and a lid member for covering an upper end open surface of the container main body. The content is taken out of the paper container by opening/closing the lid member. As the lid member, there are some which are known, such as a removable opening/closing lid which is provided separately from the container main body, a lid board which is open-and-closably hingedly attached to the back side edge parts of an upper end open surface and in which a lock piece formed by bending a tip part is engaged with an inner side of front side edge parts of the upper end open surface to thereby realize a sealing state, and the like.
In the case where the paper container is used as a container for storing detergent, foodstuff, etc., the paper container is formed by shaping an oil-resisting sheet of paper into a box because those stored in the container often contain oil. As a sheet of paper having an oil-resisting property, a laminated paper sheet formed by laminating an olefin-based or polyester-based film or by sticking an aluminum foil on that surface of a paper base material which serves as an inner surface of the paper container is used. When using such a conventional paper container in which a laminated paper sheet is used, entry of oil into the paper base material can effectively be blocked by the laminated film on the inner surface of the container.
Further, in the case where a paper container is used as a detergent container, the detergent is prevented from absorbing moisture by attaching a seal material to an entire periphery of an open edge part of the container main body in which detergent is stored.
Furthermore, there is, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-124600, a sheet-like detergent in which detergent is packaged with a water-soluble sheet. This detergent is compactly packaged, the quantity of use can easily be adjusted in actual use, handling is easy and it is no more required to take out the detergent by cutting the packing bag in use.
In the hexahedral paper container, an inner flap, an intermediate flap and an outer flap extending from respective sides surrounding an upper surface or bottom surface opening are sequentially folded one upon another and bonded together so that the opening is closed.
However, in the case of the conventional paper containers, that one having the opening/closing lid separately provided is inconvenient to handle, and another one having the lid board tends to produce a gap at the peripheral area, thus making it difficult to obtain a favorable sealing state. In the case where sheet-like matters, in particular, are stored as contents in the container in the form of layers, the stored matters are difficult to be taken out from the upper end open surface.
Moreover, the conventional paper containers give rise to such a problem that when a laminated paper is cut and its cut section formed in a peripheral edge part end face or the like contacts with the contents, oil tends to ooze out from the cut section and permeate into a paper base material. By this oil stain, the outer appearance of the paper container is badly degraded.
Since the conventional paper container has a rectangular parallelepiped configuration with a bottom and only its top surface is open, packaged detergent, which is vertically stacked up in layer, is difficult to be taken out. Especially, in the case of a packaged detergent in which the packaging material has a water-soluble property, the adjacent packaged detergent are readily stuck to each other when moisture is absorbed. This makes it even more difficult to take out the packaged detergent. Furthermore, when the container is to be opened, the seal material at the opening edge part of the paper container must be released over the entire circumference and therefore, this paper container is difficult to open.
In addition, in the case where sheet-like detergent is stored in the container in the form of layers, the water-soluble sheet is dissolved upon contact with a water-drop and the packaged detergent are readily stuck to each other.
At the time of closing the opening at the upper surface or bottom surface of the box container, an adhesive agent is applied to the outer surface of the inner flap and then, the intermediate flap is attached thereto. Thereafter, an adhesive agent is applied to the outer surface of the intermediate flap and then, the outer flap is attached thereto. Therefore, two steps are required for applying an adhesive agent and the facilities become complicated.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a paper container which is easy to handle, and in which a favorable sealing state can be obtained at the time of closing and the content can more easily be taken out.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a paper container, in which even in the case where oil contained in the content of the container oozes out from a cut section of paper and permeates into a paper base material, the oil stain can be made less conspicuous so that the good outer appearance can easily be maintained.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a paper container, in which a packaged detergent is easy to take out and the detergent is prevented from absorbing moisture.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a paper container, in which moisture-preventive property and water-drop entry-preventive property of the container are improved and sheet-like detergent packaged with a water-soluble sheet can be prevented from sticking to each other.
A yet further object of the present invention is to provide a paper container, in which at the time of manufacturing a paper container, the step for applying an adhesive agent is limited to only one so that the manufacturing process can be simplified and the facilities can also be simplified.